ENDWELL — Visions Federal Credit Union (FCU) plans to expand its headquarters and to nearly “double its local workforce of 250 over the next decade.”
The credit union held a groundbreaking ceremony on Dec. 20 at Credit Union Center, Visions’ HQ at 3301 Country Club Road in Endwell.
The construction project at Credit Union Center marks Visions’ first major upgrade to its headquarters in nearly 30 years, the nonprofit financial institution said in a news release.
Visions FCU currently employs about 250 people in Endwell, says Mandy DeHate, assistant VP of marketing at the credit union. Visions FCU has 550 employees total, including those who work in its branch network.
“We’re looking at [adding] about 200-plus over the next 10 years … they would be added just to the 250 in Endwell,” DeHate explains.
Visions FCU is expanding its home base and employee count because its membership continues to grow.
“In the late 80s, we had about 112,000 members, and as of today, we have about 180,000,” says DeHate.
The employees at Visions’ HQ in Endwell focus on areas that include finance, information technology (IT), human resources, and administration.
“…the IT department will definitely need to expand,” says DeHate. “our e-commerce [functions] …when you think about website, mobile app, online banking, those sorts of things … Those are areas that are continually growing.”
“The Credit Union Center project is not only a step forward for Visions and its members, but a huge investment in the Binghamton community,” Ty Muse, president and CEO of Visions FCU, contended in the news release. “It was important to us to stay right here in the Binghamton area and be a part of the positive energy as the community and economy reinvent themselves.”
Project
It’s a two-phase process, according to DeHate, who spoke to CNYBJ on Jan. 4.
The contractor will first build a new 91,000-square-foot structure near the existing headquarters, she says.
Once completed, the Visions staff will then move into the newly constructed building.
“The existing building can then be renovated and then we connect the two of them,” says DeHate.
Visions anticipates the contractor will have the new structure built by this December, with the renovations in the existing building completed the following year, she adds.
The existing 79,000-square-foot HQ building is the former Endwell Elementary School, which Visions acquired in 1988.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania–based PW Campbell, which has worked with Visions previously, is handling the construction work.
The construction started with the Dec. 20 groundbreaking. “Some preliminary work was done ahead of that … some changes to the parking lot,” she says.
DeHate says she cannot provide a firm figure for the construction project cost.
“A lot of it is still being bid right now, so we don’t have those figures,” she adds. It’s a project that Visions has planned and budgeted for, so the financing arrangement is “all taken care of.”
Visions FCU’s roots date back more than a half century when a group of eight employees of IBM founded the credit union in 1966, according to DeHate.
“Originally we were a credit union that was just for that group of IBM employees and then over the years, we’ve expanded and our charter has changed … but that was where we got our start,” she notes.